A former California surfer’s quest to become a real man in rural Vermont.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Scoring Real-Man Points, Our Own House Issues

Since I'm always looking for validity in the eyes of real men, not an easy thing for a sensitive guy like myself, it means a lot when I score real-man points. In the world according to Dave, he gave me thumbs up on my tool bag, my miter saw, and some of my tools. Gotta take what you can when you can get it. We also jived on how we sharpen our chainsaws, using a Dremel. Speaking of Dremels, since I used it to sharpen my chain, it's been cutting beautifully. We're back to the butter effect, i.e., like cutting through butter. I have to confess that I didn't have as much luck with the file, but that may come with practice. Besides, you can't beat it for convenience.

The world according to Dave also gave me a thumbs up on my job with the clapboards on the back of the house. Am I on a roll, or what? Best of all, we don't have to replace the boards, according to Dave, which is a huge relief.

Then again, I can't get too cocky. That always leads to disaster.

The world according to Dave (WAD) also mentioned the problems with our roof. He said he'd never seen so much moss forming without a tree to blame, and I reckoned it had to do with the fact that the front faces north and get no sunlight. Whatever be the case, we're getting leakage and the tiles are looking fried. Not that I would know either way. He said that when we replace the roof on the barn, look into replacing the front of our house at the same time. More money and time.

One last quick note-I've won the latest battle in the war of the compost bin, though I know this conflict is far from over. I bit the bullet and pounded stakes around most of the perimeter, so the critter can't dig his way into the compost. It appears to have worked because there are the telltale signs that he tried. Just a matter of time before he finds his way back in, however.